Leopard’s Dennis Foggia was back in charge on Saturday morning as Moto3 free practice concluded at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The Italian claimed the session with the only 1’47 lap of the weekend so far, a quarter of a second clear of Aspar’s Sergio Garcia and stand out stand-in rider David Salvador.
Saturday’s action saw BOE rookie David Muñoz leading a pair of Leopards around the 4.6km Catalan circuit as FP3 began. Replacement rider Salvador took over on the Sterilgarda Husqvarna with an impressive early 1’49.447 to boost his position into the Q2 battle, teammate John McPhee running fourth. The duo continued to pick up speed as both returned to the top in quick succession next time around. McPhee being displaced by Foggia on lap four, with the Scot’s time enough for seventh overall.
VisionTrack’s Scott Ogden continued to challenge in the front group with an early time worthy of eighth, the Brit currently circulating narrowly ahead of Friday hero Izan Guevara and just adrift of the promotion zone after ten minutes on track.
Despite repeated stewards briefings regarding track safety and riding slowly to capitalising on slipstream, the usual Moto3 antics began at the halfway stage. Guevara sat at the head of the standings once again with a 1’48.344, half a second ahed of Foggia with Riccardo Rossi slotting the Sic58 into third. Tatsuki Suzuki was the next to strike, displaying the latter Italian before Garcia arrived to join his GasGas teammate for another Aspar one-two.
Andrea Migno was the next to better Rossi on the Rivacold Snipers with Daniel Holgado doing likewise on McPhee for seventh and eighth. Foggia then Garcia striving for more out front with Migno completing the trio at the top.
Ogden sat just 0.081 away from automatic Q2 qualification as the final quarter of an hour got underway. Teammates Syarifuddin Azman and Josh Whatley circulating 19th and 23rd overall and just over a second adrift of the outright target.
The shootout action kicked off with five minutes to go. The majority of the pack rolling out en masse with Garcia and Guevara heading out alone as the pair worked in tandem free from the dawdling chaos.
Foggia hit the front first, with a 1’47.832. KTM’s Holgado found third from Salvador with Lorenzo Fellon entering the top six. Guevara and Jaume Masia dropping to eighth and ninth with the latter KTM rider’s time deleted.
The final efforts brought limited improvements across the board with Garcia meeting the flag in second and unable to improve on his tenth attempt. Masia joined his teammate in the top five as Joel Kelso rise to tenth. Matteo Bertelle headed McPhee, Deniz Öncü and Carlos Tatay at the base of the promotion zone with Ivan Ortola and Rossi the first to face the Q1 fight.
